Saturday, July 07, 2012

Maritimes Severe Thunderstorm

A storm tore through New Brunswick on Saturday, leaving more than 12,000 people in the dark at the peak of the bad weather.

"The torrential rain sent everyone scrambling for cover," said the CBC's Catherine Harrop from Fredericton. "It lasted for about 20 minutes before the clouds cleared away, and a blue sky reappeared."

Police in Fredericton were forced to block off a downtown street when the rain flooded the road.

"Cars driving down an otherwise clear one-way street were suddenly confronted by a large pool of water," said Harrop. "Some stopped and tried to back up, others plowed through."

Half the homes regained electricity by 7 p.m. Saturday. But people in Bouctouche, Shediac, Moncton and Sussex were still without power at that time.

The power failure added to another incident earlier in the day, when a squirrel is believed to have sparked a fire at a New Maryland substation. That shut down the power for more than 5,000 homes and businesses in the area.

The storm also touched down in Nova Scotia, where a lightning bolt sparked a fire in a New Glasgow home.